Newsletter:

Signup for our newsletter here:

Offshore

There is a huge potential for power generation on offshore wind farms in the Danish seas. Denmark has a geographical advantage in regards to cost-effective installation and operation of large-scale offshore wind farms in that the quality of the spatial, substrate and wind conditions exeeds those of the neighboring countries.

Wind resources are on average approximately 50 percent better at sea compared to the locations onshore. Conversely, it is also more expensive to install and operate offshore wind farms as the installation, operation and maintenance of the wind farms has to be carried out at sea, which means harsher weather conditions and larger distances. However, MAKE Consulting expects that that the average world levelized cost of energy for offshore wind power will be at or below grid parity already by the middle of the next decade (2020-2025).

Offshore authorities

The Danish government is responsible for the deployment of offshore wind farms. In order to ensure an economically sound wind power expansion at sea, long-term planning is necessary. For this purpose, the government has created a Committee for Future Offshore Wind Turbine Locations, which identifies the most suitable areas for offshore wind farms, taking into account the geographical conditions as well as various interests for the area, such as shipping, mining and fishing. Based on the recommendations of the Committee for Future Offshore Wind Turbine Locations politicians decide which parks to put out to tender. The selection of parks is primarily based on the socio-economic ranking of the different projects.

1,000 MW offshore will be put out to tender 2013-2014

Primo 2013, the total offshore wind power in Denmark is 1270 MW, including the newly installed 400 MW large-scale offshore wind farm at Anholt. In 2013-2014, two more large-scale offshore wind farms will be put out to tender. These are Horns Rev 3 of 400 MW out of Esbjerg and Krieger's Flak of 600 MW east of Møn. The Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Buildings has pledged to ensure a level playing field in the forthcoming offshore wind tender, as he attempts to attract as many bidders as possible.The tendering model will be a negotiated procedure with prequalification and a preliminary technical dialogue with the potential tenderers and investors. The Danish Energy Agency is the contracting authority for both the projects.

Near-shore wind farms

In Denmark, a distinction is made between near-shore wind farms and large-scale offshore wind farms. The near-shore parks consists of farms of up to 200 MW located between 4 and 20 km from the coast, while large-scale farms are located at least approximately 15 km from the coast and consists of parks of at least 400 MW. In the near-shore areas of Denmark, wind farms of a total of 450 MW will be deployed in the period from 2013 to 2015, with grid connection from 2017. In addition, the Danish government has allowed the installation of 50 MW for technology-demonstrating projects, which will be near-shore farms as well.